The Wisconsin National Primate Research Center (WNPRC) is part of the National Primate Research Centers program funded by the National Institutes of Health since 1961.
The WNPRC advances scientific collaboration and discovery, education and training. We provide compassionate and expert animal care while contributing to improving human and animal health and quality of life from early development through aging.
The WNPRC offers outreach programs for schools and the public. We are also proud to host Primate Info Net, an international resource in primatology.
Nearly all medical advances have depended on research with animals. Research with nonhuman primates often serves as a critical link between basic science and safe human clinical application. The WNRPC was the site of the world’s first in vitro-fertilized monkey in 1984 and its first pluripotent stem cells (first monkey, then human, in the 1990s). Our primarily NIH-funded research has helped advance therapies for people with HIV, kidney disease, glaucoma, developmental disorders, autoimmune diseases, mental illness, polycystic ovary syndrome, infections that threaten healthy pregnancies and much more. Our scientists are also at the forefront of understanding how COVID-19 infects the body and how to stop it. Read more about our world-changing discoveries here.
The WNPRC’s mission is to increase our understanding of basic primate biology and to improve human and animal health and quality of life through research.
To accomplish this, WNPRC scientists and staff:
- Help discover treatments, preventions and cures for human disease.
- Generate new knowledge of primate biology, from the molecular and whole animal levels to the understanding of primate ecosystems.
- Facilitate research progress by providing expertise, resources and training to scientists worldwide.
- Disseminate information about the center to the research community and the public.
The WNPRC is based in the Office of the Vice Chancellor for Research and Graduate Education at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. The center has strong research and teaching links to the UW-Madison Schools or Colleges of Medicine and Public Health, Letters and Science, Agriculture and Life Sciences, and Veterinary Medicine. As we are part of the campus community at UW–Madison, please also visit our Equity and Diversity Resources web page.
The center is AAALAC accredited and its policies adhere to the U.S. Government Principles for the Utilization and Care of Vertebrate Animals Used in Testing, Research, and Training.
The WNPRC has approximately 1,600 monkeys (In August 2022, this included 1,088 rhesus macaques, 198 cynomolgus macaques and 320 common marmoset monkeys.) The center employs about 240 core scientific staff, research and animal services staff, administrative and operations staff, and UW–Madison veterinary, post-doc, graduate, undergraduate and research trainees. The center annually serves about 500 researchers from 22 states, 21 countries and 5 continents (based on 2020 scientific journal article statistics).
Programs of the Wisconsin National Primate Research Center are supported by Grant No. P51OD011106 from the National Institutes of Health, Office of Research Infrastructure Programs (ORIP).